£11.50

“I see the lights, the party lights...I see Tommy and Joe and Betty and Sue – whoa oh! There goes my boyfriend too...I wanna go, I wanna go...” – never did a girl sound so upbeat and lively about not being allowed to go out partying as twenty-one-year old Claudine Clark did!

Long overdue, this fab collection of the mysterious and energetically voiced Ms Clark’s best recordings kicks off with an alternate take of her only chart hit ‘Party Lights’, and features tracks released under the names Joy Dawn and Sherry Pye. Then there’s the previously unreleased and often speculated upon ‘Buttered Popcorn’ (yes, it is the pre-hit Supremes track), an as near as dammit Supremes cover in ‘Goodbye Mama’ (currently an expensive in-demand 45 on the Northern Soul club scene) and another unissued track, ‘A Sometimes Thing’. All of this makes this CD a dream come true for girl group fans, as it collects Claudine’s best work from 1958-1969 into one tight, 24-track hour of doo wop, soul balladry, dance tunes and great and pure fun music.

As Mick Patrick says in his booklet notes, Claudine’s status as a one hit wonder does her a disservice and by track three, aural evidence soon backs up that statement. Mick tells us that Claudine was born in Macon, Georgia (the city that also gave us Little Richard, James Brown and Otis Redding) and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania raised and that she recorded for the city’s great labels like Chancellor, Jamie, Swan and Fayette. So it’s no real surprise that she was often given (and in fact gave herself, as she had a hand in writing a significant number of her own releases) a similar sound to that great hit-making Philly girl of the early 60s, Dee Dee Sharp.

Claudine’s Swan release ‘Hang It Up’ almost sounds like a pastiche tune written for a 60s revival movie or a musical and, according to a press release issued by Chancellor Records, she had written “a rock’n’roll operetta”, so I wonder if in fact that’s where the origins of the track lie? The versions of ‘Party Lights’ and (its original A-side) ‘Disappointed’ are previously unissued longer alternate takes, ‘Easy To Love’ is great slow drag soul and ‘The Strength To Be Strong’ is in an extraordinary waltz tempo epic (unsurprisingly it was a Dave Godin favourite). The 1969 title track is closer to Claudine’s Georgia roots, with her sounding wonderfully soulful with a distaff take on a song Otis could have easily recorded. No surprise then that it was re-released by Atlantic after its initial outing on the Match label. Add in the extremely odd ‘Walking Through A Cemetery’, the great ‘Telephone Game’ (its much better flipside), both sides of her 1958 release on Herald and a handful of tracks plucked from her “Party Lights” album and the whole package is a must have addition to your already filled-to-groaning girl group CD shelf.

Delivery & Returns

We offer free P&P to UK addresses. For all other territories packaging is free and postage is charged on a weight basis.

We use Royal Mail First Class for UK deliveries and standard Air Mail for all other territories, very large orders will usually be sent via parcelforce.
You may cancel your order at any time prior to your order being dispatched by emailing us at orders@acerecords.com
ensuring that you quote your name, address and order reference number or by telephoning +44 (0) 208 453 1311 between 9am and 5pm GMT/BST, Monday to Friday. Please note: As music downloads are dispatched immediately after purchase, there is no possibility of cancelling these orders.

In the event that any products supplied to you by us are damaged or defective, we agree to replace or repair the damaged or defective products or refund the amount you paid for such goods (including postage & packaging) providing you notify us (either via post at or e-mail: orders@acerecords.com
) and return the goods within 28 days of purchase. Physical goods should be sent back to us in the same condition you received them to: “Returns” Bus Stop Mail Order Ltd, 42-50 Steele Road, London, NW10 7AS. Music downloads should be returned to us via the e-mail address above including a copy of your notification.

You have the right to cancel your order within seven days of purchase, or seven days of receipt of the goods (whichever is the longer). If you choose to cancel your order, full payment will be returned to you. Returned items should be sent to: “Returns” c/o Bus Stop Mail Order Ltd, 42-50 Steele Road, London, NW10 7AS. Music downloads should be returned to us via the email address: orders@acerecords.com including a copy of your notice of cancellation and order number.